Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Political Battle For Control Of Iraq’s Anbar Province

Today, the Iraqi
forces are in the process of freeing the remaining areas of Anbar from the
Islamic State. As the province has been liberated however, a series of
political battles have emerged over control of the government. The main dispute
is between some tribal sheikhs and the Sunni Endowment versus the Iraqi Islamic
Party (IIP) that has run the governorate since 2005. No one is coming out
looking good in the process, and the fight is not helping Anbar that is facing
a humanitarian crisis.

The first battle
over Anbar’s governance involved the Sunni Endowment and the Islamic Party competing
to get people to return to Ramadi even though the city was unsafe and full of
unexploded ordinance. At the start of February 2016 Friday prayers were given
at the Grand Mosque for the first time since the city was freed, and a call was
made for the displaced to come back. Prime Minister Haidar Abadi had appointed the head of the Sunni Endowment the chairman of returns, so this
announcement held weight in Anbar. This was made despite local officials saying
that Ramadi would not be cleared of IEDs for 2-6 months at a minimum. Despite that people listened to the Sunni Endowment and
began returning in droves. That got the politicians to begin saying that the displaced
should come back in the city as well. The result was that dozens of people were killed and wounded by bombs left behind
by the Islamic State. That brought out the rivalry between the Islamic Party
and the Endowment into the open as the former accused the latter of being responsible for the casualties. The head of he
Sunni Endowment responded with the ridiculous allegation that the Islamic Party
was planting IEDs in the city to undermine his work as returns chairman. That
seemed to end it between the two with the Sunni Endowment eventually backing
down. The fact that over 100 people were reportedly hurt and killed in the
process showed the crass nature of the conflict.

The next phase of
the battle was over Governor Suhaib al-Rawi with tribal sheikhs and members of
the Anbar council attempting to dismiss him. This started with Sheikh Ahmed Abu Risha and members of the Anbar council calling
itself the Reform bloc accusing the governor of financial mismanagement and not
assisting the province’s displaced. The Sunni Endowment supported the opposition, while the governor had his Islamic Party as well as
the Solution bloc led by Jamal Karbouli, a longtime Sunni leader in parliament.
To stave off the criticism in mid-June the IIP and the Solution bloc asked
parliament to dissolve the council and hold early elections in Anbar. The
opposition struck back by voting out Governor Rawi on June 28. Rawi appealed his case to the courts and won on July 27, and then said he would get the council dismissed to be rid of his opponents. Even if that doesn’t happen Governor Rawi
has already won by staying in office. On the other hand, getting rid of the
council and electing a new one won’t happen as there are so many displaced from
the province voting is impossible right now. That means the back and forth
between the two will continue for the foreseeable future as neither side is
happy.

Unhappiness with the
Islamic Party is nothing knew in Anbar. It came to power in 2005 by simply
running for office as most of the other parties boycotted the provincial
elections that year because they were opposed to the U.S. occupation and the new
Iraq. It has run the governorate ever since. In 2006 it was challenged by the
Awakening, which was made up of rural sheikhs mostly from the Ramadi area who
resented the Islamic Party’s reign. Later the party joined the protest movement
that started in 2012 against Prime Minister Maliki and the central government,
but then flipped to Baghdad, which angered many. Now this latest dispute is
emerging as Anbar is being freed from the Islamic State. Rival parties are
trying to pin the woes of the province on the Islamic Party, but so far they
have lost. Calling for people to return to Ramadi when it wasn't safe
backfired, and the attempt to get rid of the governor was overturned. That
leaves the two sides deadlocked and waiting for the next controversy they can
pounce on to try to undo the other. This comes at the worst of time as both
Fallujah and the central government are broke leaving no money to help the displaced
or rebuild any of the areas that are being freed from the militants. Provincial
elections are not set to take place until next year, and in Anbar’s case may be
delayed if a majority of the internal refugees are still not back in their
homes. That leaves months for this rivalry to play out.

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the politics, economics, security, culture and history of Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com